Sword dance

Sword dance

Sword dances are recorded from throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock battle (Pyrrhic) sword dances from Greece, the Middle East, India, China, Korea, and Japan, while all known linked ("hilt-and-point") sword dances are from Europe.Fact|date=February 2008

General sword dance forms include:
*solo dancers around swords – such as the traditional Scottish sword dances. This general form also encompasses non-sword dances such as the bacca pipes jig in Cotswold morris dance,
*mock battle dances, including many stick dances from non-sword traditions, and such common continental dances as Buffins or Matachin
*hilt-and-point sword dances – where the dancers are linked together by their swords in a chain. These form the basis for rapper sword and long sword forms,

Mock battle

Mock battle sword dances are found worldwide, varying from the Greek "Xiphism", the "Saltatio Armatum" of the ancient Romans, through Turkish, Persian and Middle Eastern traditions to Japanese mock battle dances. Some European sword dances, such as Moreshka from the island of Korcula in Croatia, include both hilt-and-point and mock battle sequences.Fact|date=February 2008

Linked

Hilt-and-point sword dances are, or were, performed all over Europe. These are particularly concentrated in an area corresponding to the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire at around 1400-1500, and many of these traditional dances are still performed in Germany, Austria, North Italy and the Flanders. Linked sword dances were also found all over the Iberian Peninsula, and are still widely performed in the Basque Country.

Sword dances performed by the guilds of Smiths and Cutlers in Nuremberg are recorded from 1350. 16th century records of sword dances survive from all over Germany. Depictions of dances survive from Zürich (1578) and Nuremberg (1600)

An important concentration of traditional sword dances can be found in the Italian side of western Alps. Main sites are Giaglione, Venaus and S. Giorio in the Susa valley, where the so called "Spadonari" (sword -holders) dance is still now performed between the end of January and the beginning of February. This dance is also connected with the rebirth of nature and vegetation.

In Romania, in a dance called Calusari a sword dance similar to Morris Dance is part of a more complex ritualistic dance involving elements of fertility ritual and horse worship.

Hilt-and-point sword dances traditional to England include rapper sword and long sword, although both of these are now also performed by revival teams outside their traditional areas, including teams in most of the English-speaking world. English sword dancing has also been brought to the New World, initially as part of the "morris revival" of the 1970s and 1980s. Teams are now extant in most major metropolitan areas in North America. The New York Sword Ale is an annual gathering over Presidents' Day weekend that brings together over a dozen sword teams form the east coast and around the world.

ee also

*Kalarippayattu
*Geommu
*Weapon dance

Literature

*Stephen D Corrsin, "Sword Dancing in Europe: A History", London: Hisarlik Press (1997).

External links

General

* [http://www.rapper.org.uk/ Rapper Online] - information on the rapper sword dance
* [http://www.rapper.org.uk/relations/ Overview of hilt-and-point sword dances] (from Rapper Online; includes photos, videos and links)

Groups

* [http://membres.lycos.fr/vivreenbrianconnais/article.php3?id_article=36 Bacchu-Ber] (France)
* [http://www.rupestre.it/archiv/3/tpop33.htm Bal do Sabre Bagnasco] (Italy)
* [http://home.tiscali.be/jeacanon/groupes.htm#GREPEE Danseurs de Quevaucamps] (Belgium)
* [http://www.highspen.org.uk/ High Spen Blue Diamonds] (England)
* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/in-de-kring/ In de Kring] (France)
* [http://www.kirkburtonrapier.co.uk/ Kirkburton Rapier] (England)
* [http://www.korcula.net/naselja/korcula/moreska.htm Korcula Moreska] (Croatia)
* [http://www.langewapper.be.tf/ Lange Wapper] (Belgium)
* [http://www.kingsmen.co.uk/ Newcastle Kingsmen] (England)
* [http://www.volkstanz.com/ssk/ssk_volkstanz_com.html Stuttgarter Spielkreis] (Germany)
* [http://neckartailfingen.volkstanz.com/ Volkstanz Neckartailfingen] (Germany)
* [http://www.cdny.org/halfmoonsword.html/ Half Moon Sword] (New York City)
* [http://www.orionlongsword.org/ Orion Longsword] (BostonPolytonic|)
* [http://jacktherapper.no Jack the Rapper] (Norway)
* [http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/tpop2.htm Giaglione Spadonari] (Italy)
* [http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/tpop1.htm Venaus Spadonari] (Italy)
* [http://deshgujarat.com/2007/08/31/porbandars-mehar-gents-at-traditional-sword-dancevideo/ Gujarati Mer Group] (India)
* [http://www.morrisdancing.org/ Rich Holmes site] includes links to many English and English-style sword teams.
* [http://www.vineyardswordfish.org Vineyard Swordfish & Clownfish Rapper] (Cape Cod MA, USA)


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • sword dance — sword dancer. any of various dances, usually performed by men, in which swords are ceremonially flourished or are laid on the ground and danced around. [1595 1605] * * * Folk dance by men, with swords or two handled blades, expressing themes such …   Universalium

  • Sword dance — Sword Sword (s[=o]rd), n. [OE. swerd, AS. sweord; akin to OFries. swerd, swird, D. zwaard, OS. swerd, OHG. swert, G. schwert, Icel. sver[eth], Sw. sv[ a]rd, Dan. sv[ae]rd; of uncertain origin.] 1. An offensive weapon, having a long and usually… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sword dance — n. any dance, esp. by men, involving the use of swords, esp. one performed around bare swords laid on the ground sword dancer n …   English World dictionary

  • sword dance — n a dance in which people dance over swords or using swords …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • sword dance — sword ,dance noun count a traditional Scottish dance in which you dance around two crossed swords laid on the floor …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • sword dance — noun any of various dances by men who step nimbly over swords or flourish them in the air • Syn: ↑sword dancing • Hypernyms: ↑folk dancing, ↑folk dance * * * noun 1. : a ceremonial English and west European folk dance executed by men in a ring by …   Useful english dictionary

  • Sword dance — Schwerttänze sind eine Gruppe von Volkstänzen.Sie schließen Schützentänze, Scheinschlachttänze und Duotänze oder Solotänze, wie beispielsweise traditionelle schottische Schwerttänze, ein. Auch der Messertanz, ein mittelalterlicher Zunfttanz,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • sword dance — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms sword dance : singular sword dance plural sword dances a traditional Scottish dance in which you dance around two crossed swords laid on the floor …   English dictionary

  • sword dance — noun Date: 1604 1. a dance performed by men in a circle holding a sword in the right hand and grasping the tip of a neighbor s sword in the left hand 2. a dance performed over or around swords • sword dancer noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • sword dance — noun (C) a Scottish dance in which people dance between and around swords that are laid on the ground sword dancer noun (C) sword dancing noun (U) …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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